Chapters The main doors of Canterlot's Castle have been opened. A purple mare were walking sadly through the corridors of the castle, looking for the princess of the sun. It didn't take too long for her to reach the room where the princess was. With a last sigh and a deep sorrow, the purple mare knocked on the door. The guards opened the door and saw her. They recognized that face immediately, but they got surprised by the sorrow that her face was showing all the time. Unfortunately, their job wasn't ask questions about the personal life of the visitors so they informed to the princess about her visit. After that, the purple mare passed into the great hall where the princess of the sun was resting in her red royal seat. The mare stopped some meters in front of the princess, doing a reverence and staying on the red carpet.
"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student! What can I do for you?" said the princess.
No response. The awkward silence made the smile on the face of the princess fade quickly. Now the princess was looking to her student worried.
"Is there something wrong, dear?" said the princess.
"Princess Celestia..." Twilight looked up to the princess, showing all her sadness. "I'm here because I want to tell you something that happened some days ago. It's something important... Do you have some time to spare with me?"
"Of course, Twilight. Tell me what's wrong," said Celestia.
"Ok..." Twilight took a deep breath. "Everything started two weeks ago. I was studying some new spells when Spike received a letter..."
The burp of Spike echoed through the house meanwhile the green flame was coming out from the dragon's mouth. The green flame started to turn into a tiny green ball that turned quickly into a pink letter with a burst of light. Spike took the letter with curiosity and started reading it.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I need your help little sis, Cadance had been disappeared! We don't know where she can be! I sent some guards to look for her around the Crystal Empire, but we didn't find her. I'm sure you have some spell or something to help us find her, for that reason we need your help sis. Please, come here soon as possible.
Your big brother, Shining Armor."
"Wow, this sounds serious," said Spike.
"Serious?! SERIOUS?! THIS IS MORE THAN SERIOUS!!!" said Twilight with an alarmed face.
Twilight forgot what she was doing and quickly started to prepare her saddlebags with the essential things for going to the Crystal Empire. Spike was surprised for the reaction of his friend, expecting something less louder.
"Sorry Spike, but this is an emergency!! Take care of the house in my absence," said Twilight with hurry.
"Can't I go with you, Twilight? Be in this house all the day is not exactly exciting," said Spike.
"And who's gonna take care of the house?!" said Twilight still with hurry.
"What about Owlowiscious?" said Spike.
"He's just an Owl! How in the world is he supposed to take care of the house by himself?!" said Twilight without patience.
"He can fight against a giant dragon, but he can't take care of a house?" said Spike remembering that day.
"There's no time for this, Spike!!" said Twilight.
"Oh come on, Twilight. I want to go with you!" said Spike a little bit frustrated. Twilight sighed and looked at the little dragon.
"Alright Spike, you can come with me... But just for this time, okay?" said Twilight more relaxed.
"Yes, ma'am!" said Spike.
The train arrived to the train station of the Crystal Empire just in time. Twilight & Spike got out of the train quickly, hurrying up to get to the Crystal Palace. The streets were beautiful and full of energy with the radiant smiles of the crystal ponies, but Twilight wasn't paying attention to that. The disappearance of her sister-in-law was more important in that moment than anything else. They arrived quickly to the entrance of the Crystal Palace, where her brother was waiting for her. Shining Armor was happy to see them, but he knew that there wasn't gonna have a welcoming hug with this emergency.
"Twilight! I'm glad to see you're here," said her brother.
"Yeah, here we are. Sorry for not coming before," said Twilight catching his breath.
"Don't worry sis, I was sure you were going to come here quickly after reading the bad news," said Shining Armor with honesty.
"Yeah, typical of Twilight," said Spike with a smile.
"Something new about Cadance's situation?" said Twilight worried.
"No, nothing. We don't know where Cadance can be. We explored every spot of the Crystal Empire, but nothing. We don't know what to do anymore," said Shining Armor with sadness.
"Don't worry Shining, is our turn now. Come on Twilight, we have to start looking for clues," said Spike with enthusiasm. Twilight smiled at the attitude of the dragon, happy to see Spike with her.
"And where we are supposed to start looking for clues, detective Spike?" said Twilight with a mischievous smile. Spike stopped thinking about it.
"I know! Let's start looking for evidences at Cadance's room!" Spike pointed at the big stairs leading to the rooms.
"Alright then, lead the way," said Twilight.
"Yeah, emm... Where is Cadance's room?" said Spike. Twilight and Shining Armor giggled.
"This way Spike. Follow me," said Shining Armor leading the way.
The room was quiet and clean. Everything was perfectly organized so it was difficult to look for clues, but Spike started to inspect the room with determination. Twilight took a look at Cadance's bed, which was perfectly made. Twilight remembered the day when Cadance arrived to the Crystal Empire, after the attack of King Sombra. It wasn't technically a happy day, but it was something. That memory made Twilight a little bit sad, thinking that her sister-in-law was probably in danger right now. Twilight got out of her thoughts when Spike called her because he found a strange letter in one of the drawers. Twilight picked up the letter and started reading.
"I need to escape from my routine. Something is telling me that I need to return to my birth place. This strange feeling can't be a coincidence. I will go during night, so my husband will not know anything."
"Why Cadance wrote this? She knew someone was going to read it?" said Spike with curiosity.
"I don't know Spike, but this is very suspicious. Cadance went to her birth place because she felt that something is going wrong with that place, but how is even that possible? How she can get a bad feeling about the situation of a town that she abandoned years ago?" Twilight rubbed her chin trying to think about it.
"I don't know Twilight, but at least we know where she is now. Now we have to know what and where is her birth place," said Spike.
"I know what and where is her birth place," said Shining Armor with severity. Twilight and Spike looked at him surprised for his sudden seriousness.
"Where is it, brother?" said Twilight.
"It's in a hidden spot near the White Tail Woods, and the name of the town is Foalmond. It's actually an abandoned town because... Well... It's a long story," Shining walked to a window near of Cadance's bed. His eyes were reflecting seriousness and sadness at the same time. Twilight looked worried at his brother, expecting a sad story about the town.
"W-what happened to that town, brother?" said Twilight with fear. Shining sighed and took a deep breath before starting to tell his story.
"I'm sure you remember the day that Nightmare Moon returned from the moon, right? Well, five days before that incident, somepony launched a curse to Foalmond creating the chaos in there. A lot of ponies died that day by the curse, but after that the town was completely desert. The town is filled with strange grates that makes the new visitors of the town be trapped there forever. The only way to escape from that town is flying, for that reason only pegasus and alicorns can escape from that town. In other words, the town have life and can do things by it's own." Shining turned to look at Twilight and Spike, "Cadance never knew about this for some reason, and I never wanted her to know it because I knew that Cadance will want to do something to save the town from the curse... And I'm sure that's the reason because she went to that town, because she wants to find the source of the curse and save her birth place." Shining took a sigh after finishing his story. Twilight and Spike looked at each other, surprised about the story.
"Wow, Shining... I never knew about the story of that town. It's sad as hell!" said Spike surprised. Twilight was looking at the floor thoughtful. Then, Twilight took the decision and looked at her brother.
"Shining, count on us to go to that town and look for Cadance." Shining and Spike turned to Twilight.
"Wait, wait, wait... We're going to go to a cursed town where we can got trapped there forever? Are you crazy?!" said Spike unbelieving.
"But we can't be here doing nothing meanwhile Cadance is in danger! We have to go to that town and save her!" said Twilight.
"I'm afraid she's right, Spike. Even if you got trapped on the town, you could escape thanks to Cadance because she's an alicorn. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to send you two to that cursed town but there's no other choice right now." said Shining Armor with frankness. Twilight looked at her brother with determination.
"It's decided then. We'll go to that town and look for Cadance. She needs our help more than never... I hope she's okay."
"Ugh, fine... but you will be the responsible if something bad happens to me!" said Spike pointing at Twilight with the finger. Twilight rolled her eyes and walked to the door.
"It's okay, Spike. It's okay..."
Twilight opened the door and started to cross the corridor. Spike ran trying to catch Twilight. Shining Armor looked one more time to the bed of her wife with sadness. The pony closed the door with a sigh, praying for the safety of his wife.
"Don't worry my love... Twilight is on the way."
"WELCOME TO FOALMOND"
Twilight and Spike were reading the wooden sign that was posted on the town entrance. They were in front of the sign, taking a look to the town. It was all mist. The town was filled with a dense fog that was making impossible to see where was the nearest house. An horrible silence reigned the town, creating fear in the hearts of the pony and the dragon. Twilight started to trot slowly into the fog of the town. Spike was on Twilight's back, looking everywhere with fear.
"So this is Foalmond..." Twilight said.
"T-Twilight... Is this really a good idea?" Spike said with fear.
"You know we have to do this... E-Even if our lives is in danger with this mission..."
"Yes, you're right Twilight... Let's go..."
"Yeah... Let's go..."
With no time to waste, Twilight started to trot faster into the town. Even with the determination in their hearts, the dense fog and the strange noises that could be heard sometimes, created an horrible fear in the couple. Some seconds later, a house appeared through the fog. The house had the same structure than the houses of Ponyville, but the color of it was a mix between grey and green. With no doubt, that house was externally weird. Twilight trotted to the door of the house, and read a small sign with golden letters that was posted in the main door of the house.
"PENCIL BENIT'S HOME"
"Pencil Benit? I never heard that name before," said Spike with curiosity.
"Me neither, but that's not important. We're looking for Cadance's home," said Twilight with a serious tone.
"Yeah, I know, I was just curious."
Twilight turned back and followed the road looking for another house. It didn't take 10 hoofsteps until they found another house. This one was exactly like the last one, with the same structure and color. Twilight trotted to the main door of the house, and read the small sign of the door.
"MIA AMORE CADENZA'S HOME"
"Well, that was easy," said Spike surprised.
"Yeah, this was surprisingly easy. I wonder if..." Twilight pushed the door, but it didn't move. It was locked, as expected. "I knew it,"
"What are we gonna do now?"
"Let's see if we can get in the house by another way,"
Twilight turned back and started to inspect around the house. All the windows were closed. They saw a water well at the right side of the house, but it was empty. Spike groaned at this, expecting to be water in there because he was thirsty. They took a look behind the house, and saw something white in a hidden spot of it. They trotted to it and took a look at the white thing. The surprise in their face was priceless.
"It's... I-It's a skeleton..."
A skeleton of a pony was right there, in front of them. It wasn't very big, so it wasn't probably the skeleton of Cadance. The terror now was at maximum level inside the pony and the dragon.
"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE, NOW!!!" said Spike with panic. Spike jumped from Twilight's back and started running, but Twilight caught him with her magic.
"Where do you think you're going, friend?" said Twilight with composure.
"Twilight, didn't you see that??!! It's the skeleton of a pony!!! We're in danger!!!" said Spike still with panic.
"I know what we're seeing, but we can't leave now! We must find Princess Cadance or the Crystal Empire will lose a princess!"
"B-But!"
"No excuses! We have to do this, Spike. You know it." Twilight sighed, trying to relax. Spike saw the determination in the words of his friend, so he tried to get off his panic.
"Yeah, you're right Twilight... I'm sorry if I'm pulling you back, but I'm very scared of this place..." said Spike honestly.
"I know, I'm very scared too... This place is very spooky, but we have to continue. Now that I'm looking closely at it... This skeleton is weird... I couldn't say if this is the skeleton of a pony or not..."
"I don't care, to be honest... Wait Twilight, I can see something shining into that skeleton,"
"Really?" Twilight used her magic to took some bones apart from the skeleton, and she found a key inside it. "Good job, Spike!"
"Thanks,"
It was probably the key of the main door of the house, so Twilight turned back and trotted to the main door of the house again. She put the key in the keyhole, and the door opened with a satisfying 'click'. They got inside the house, closing the door behind them. The house was surprisingly well illuminated by the outdoor lighting. The house was completely empty, but that wasn't a great surprise. Probably everything of that house, was now in the Crystal Empire. Twilight trotted through the house until they found Cadance's room. It was easy to find, because the door was a sign with her name on it. There was an old wooden bed, a nightstand and a cupboard in the room. There was only one window in the room, but was enough to illuminate the place. There was a strange yellow note on the nightstand. Twilight grabbed it with her magic and started reading...
"Emm... Twilight, what are you doing looking at that note? There's nothing written on it," said Spike surprised.
"I-I don't know... For some reason, this note has a familiar looking... There's nothing written on it, but... There's something in this note that is calling me..." Twilight was looking at the note hypnotized. Spike was starting to get worried about the strange behavior of his friend.
"What are you talking about? It's just an old note,"
"I know b-but..."
Twilight started to feel something weird in her head. Her sensations started to twist, and her vision started to get blurry. Strange whispers started to sound in her head. She could hear a female voice among all those whispers.
"This room makes me feel nostalgic... I spent all my childhood in this house, with my family... Well, at least before they were killed by the curse of this town... Why I never knew about this? Why I had to knew about this thanks to a strange feeling I had recently?"
The voice of Cadance was perfectly audible... Why was Twilight hearing her voice like a flashback?
"Twilight?"
The sudden voice of Spike turned Twilight back to reality. Her vision returned to normal, and everything went silent. The note was in the floor. Twilight didn't realize that she wasn't using magic after that strange vision.
"...Twilight?" said Spike worried.
"Oh, yes?" said Twilight back in reality.
"Twilight, you scared me!" said Spike relieved.
"Yeah, sorry. I had a strange... Vision... While I was looking at this strange note... Well, that's not important now. Looks like Princess Cadance is not here. Probably she's in another house of the town or something."
"You're probably right. Let's get going then."
Twilight turned back and got out of the house. The dense fog of the town were at their vision again, creating a new fear in their hearts. Twilight started to follow the road again, expecting to find more houses to investigate. She found a grey grate some seconds later. It had a metallic door indicating the main entrance of the town. That was strange. The entrance of the town is a grey grate with a metallic door? Why the entrance of the town is so fortified?
"I never saw something like this before," said Spike.
"Probably this is here to guarantee the security of the visitors. This town have an evil curse after all."
"Good observation."
A sudden 'click' could be heard from behind the metallic door. Twilight and Spike were staring at the door, expecting something to happen. After some seconds of awkward silence, the metallic door started to open slowly by itself. That gave Spike the creeps.
"T-Twilight... D-Did the door just-"
"Yes," said Twilight with serenity. "The town is welcoming us."
"B-But how is that possible?!" said Spike impressed.
"Remember what Shining Armor told us... The town has life thanks to the curse, and now it can do things by it's own."
"Oh y-yeah, it's right... once we're in there, there's no way back... right?" said Spike trying to accept the reality of the situation. Twilight took a sigh, and then stared at the door with decision, but with fear.
"Right... Let's go..."
Twilight started to trot through the metallic door, and it closed by itself behind them with a loud bang that scared the couple. They stop a little to relax a bit, and Twilight started trotting again. The deep silence of the town was horrifying. The dense fog was creating a constant insecurity in Twilight and Spike, fearing to something that could happen at any moment. The roads of the town were eternal and confusing. They were changing of direction everytime. They already found some houses, but there was nothing interesting on them. All the houses were surprisingly identical; all of them had the same structure and color. That fact was making Twilight doubt about if they were trotting in circles through the town, but she remembered that the names on the signs were all different.
After some minutes of trotting with no destination, they found a bigger building. Twilight trotted to the wooden sign near the main doors of the building and read with curiosity.
"FOALMOND 'S SCHOOLHOUSE"
"The schoolhouse of the town... I think here's where Princess Cadance studied when she was a filly," said Twilight with interest.
"We don't have to get in there, right?" said Spike.
"Well, the princess is probably in there, so we have to do it."
"But Twilight! You never read horror stories before? There are ghosts of schoolfillies in abandoned schoolhouses!"
"I know I know, but... We don't have another option. We need to-"
"Find Princess Cadance. It's okay..."
Spike gave up and Twilight tried to open one of the main doors, but it was locked. This was a problem, but Spike felt relieved of not having to get into the schoolhouse... Not yet at least. Twilight turned back and started to inspect the surroundings of the building. They found a grey water well without water, and some brown barrels. One of the barrels had a writing on it.
"TREES - SUNKEN ROAD"
"This must be a clue of where's the key of the schoolhouse," said Twilight thoughtful.
"Why is there a riddle for the key of the schoolhouse? Is the town making the things hard at purpose?" said Spike surprised.
"Maybe... But why?"
Twilight and Spike weren't able to believe what their eyes were seeing. There wasn't more road there. The road was completely cut there, with no floor at all. Twilight got a little bit near of the cut, and looked down. A bottomless chasm was in front of them. Twilight stepped back a little after seeing that.
"This is amazing!!! How could this happen?!" said Twilight impressed.
"I don't know, but... Do you remember the riddle back at the schoolhouse?" said Spike realizing something.
"Oh yes, it said "Sunken Road"... Maybe is this the sunken road?"
"Probably... If that's so, let's take a look at the trees."
Twilight trotted to the trees on her left. There was nothing unusual on them. Now, she tried to take a look at the trees on her right. Still nothing...
"Wait Twilight, look at that tree!" said Spike, pointing to a tree that had a rope tied to a branch. Twilight used her magic to untie the rope, and she gave it to Spike.
"Good job Spike, but... What are we gonna do with a rope?"
"I don't know... But it must have some use,"
They stopped there, thinking about the possible use of the rope. After some seconds, Twilight raised a hoof.
"Of course! The water well of the schoolhouse!" said Twilight happily.
"The water well of the schoolhouse?" asked Spike confused.
"Yes! There's probably a key at the bottom of that water well!" said Twilight convinced about it.
"Well, we can give it a try," said Spike not so convinced.
"Let's go then!"
"I have it!!!"
Twilight was right about her theory. Spike picked up the key while Twilight was using her magic to hold the rope that was holding Spike. Twilight took an effort to raise the rope and Spike got out of the water well. After getting off the rope, Spike got on Twilight's back again with the key on his claw. Twilight trotted to one of the main doors, and introduced the key into the keyhole with magic. The door opened, and Twilight proceeded to enter. Twilight closed the door behind her, and the darkness of the entrance of the schoolhouse surrounded them. Twilight took a little of her magic, and her horn started to emanate enough light to illuminate the place.
"T-Twilight... I-Is very dark in here..." said Spike trembling with fear.
"I know... I don't like this place. Let's be careful about it," said Twilight with insecurity.
"Y-Yeah... L-Lead the way..."
Three ways; Left, right, and front. There were two doors in front of the couple, probably leading to a corridor or a courtyard. On the left, there was a door leading to the storage, a table with some things on it, and stairs leading to the upper floor. On the right, a door leading to the different classrooms of the schoolhouse, and another door leading to the infirmary of the school. The options were there, but what way could they took first?
After a moment of indecision, Twilight started trotting to the doors that were in front of her. Twilight tried to open the doors, but they were locked. Twilight turned and went to the table of the left. There were a world map of Equestria, a small yellow box with the keys of the different classrooms of the school, some books about self-esteem, and a note from the janitor. Twilight inspected the small yellow box first to discover that some of the keys were gone. The world map and the books were not interesting, so Twilight proceeded to take a look to the note from the janitor. She grabbed it with her magic and started reading it.
"I passed through Classroom 102 today. Mistress Julie was talking about professional careers with her class. One of the schoolfillies, said to Julie that she was going to be a princess in the future. It was funny the determination in the words of that filly. Her imagination is incredible... "
"Looks like is part of some diary of the janitor," said Spike.
"Probably... Cadance's classroom was 102... We could take a look at that classroom." Twilight trotted to the door leading to the schoolhouse's classrooms, but it was locked. "What a surprise..."
"Looks like we're gonna have to look for another way,"
Twilight turned around and went upstairs. A new corridor presented in front of them after climbing up the stairs. This corridor was filled with doors leading to the different classrooms of that floor, but those were not their objective. Twilight crossed the corridor and turned left. A small corridor was connecting the corridor of the left side of the school, with the corridor of the right side. Twilight crossed the small corridor to find another corridor at her left filled with doors of classrooms, and a stairwell at her right leading to the main floor. Twilight went downstairs and a new dark corridor appeared. Twilight trotted through the corridor when a small sign caught her attention.
"Here it is; Classroom 102," said Twilight.
Twilight opened the door and trotted inside. The classroom was filled with small chairs and tables, a large desk for the teacher, a blackboard and some cupboards. They were all filled with dust and some decay. There was nothing interesting in that class, except for one thing. There was an old yellow note on the teacher's table. Twilight used her magic to grab it, but something called her attention about that note. Her eyes widened at the realization. In that moment, Spike took a look to the note. He got surprised when he saw it.
"Hey, Twilight... I-isn't this the same note we saw at Cadance's home?" said Spike with some fear.
"Y-yes... It's exactly the same one... With nothing written on it," said Twilight impressed.
There it was; the note was starting to get into her mind again. Her sensations started to twist once more, and her vision started to get blurry. Laughter of small fillies were ringing inside her head. Her vision returned after that. The classroom were the same, but something was different. The classroom was perfectly illuminated by sunlight, and it was filled with small ghostly fillies paying attention to their teacher. Between all the fillies, a small lavender unicorn was there, fascinated with all the things the teacher was telling.
"...So well, can somepony tell me the solution to this problem?" said the teacher looking at her students. Twilight raised a hoof after that.
"Me, me, me! I know the solution to the problem!" said an enthusiastic younger Twilight.
"I know you know the solution, miss Sparkle. Can you let your classmates say the solution for once, please?" said the teacher with severity.
"B-but..." said Twilight dissapointed.
"I will not say it again, young filly!" The younger Twilight lowered her hoof with sadness. "I'm sorry miss Twilight, but I got tired of your egocentrism. You will never have friends if you continue by that way."
The younger Twilight was sad, very sad. The harsh words of the teacher impacted directly in her heart. The teacher started to write the solution when she realized that nopony knew the answer except her. The younger Twilight was starting to cry, but a kind hoof touched her shoulder. Twilight looked and saw the smile of her friend Moondancer.
"Don't listen to her; you know that teacher is always awful," said Moondancer.
"I heard that," said the teacher.
"TWILIGHT!!!" said Spike to her ear.
Twilight got back to reality after startling by the yell of Spike. The note was in the floor, waiting to be picked up again.
"Why did you do that, Spike?! You scared me!!" said Twilight angry.
"I'm sorry, but you were hypnotized by that note! I was worried about you!" said Spike justifying.
"Agh... It's okay, sorry..." Twilight used her magic again to pick up the note from the floor. "This strange note... I don't know how, but it show me things... And what it showed me this time... Was from my past... From my days at the School for Gifted Unicorns at Canterlot... Why this note showed me that?"
"Uuuhhh... Twilight, didn't you find something weird in that note now?"
Twilight looked at the note and now there was something written on it with blue ink. Twilight looked closer and she could read: "LOOK IN THE CUPBOARD, BUT DON'T GET USED TO IT "
"What the... T-the cupboard?!" said Twilight suprised by the text.
Twilight let the note in one of the tables, and trotted slowly to one of the cupboards. She started to inspect the cupboards, until she found a key inside one of them. Twilight gave the key to Spike, and this started to inspect the key.
"Classroom 203 key... Do you think somepony is helping us?" said Spike curious.
"I don't know, but this way to help is not funny..." said Twilight with fear in her eyes.
"Yeah, you're right... It scared the hell out of me when that text appeared from nowhere in that note."
"Yeah... But well, let's proceed to that classroom."
"Of course, lead the way."
Classroom 203 were in front of them. Twilight used the key to unlock the door, and this opened with no problem after that. The classroom was identical to the last classroom they visited. The only difference, was the blackboard. There was a message written on it with white chalk.
"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."
"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."
"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."
"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."
"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."
"I WILL NOT ENTER IN THE INFIRMARY WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN."
"Looks like somepony was bad here," said Spike.
"Well... At least, we know what we have to do now!" said Twilight with a smile.
"Oh yeah! ...... What we have to do now?" said Spike confused.
"We have to go to the infirmary, Spike. Probably there's something in there."
"Ooh, of course! Hehe..." said Spike with some embarrassment.
The infirmary wasn't very hard to find. It was at some steps away from the entrance, at the right corridor. In the infirmary, there were some white beds, clean desktops, and cupboards with medicines and first-aid kits inside of them. The walls were painted of green and white, with some decay and dust. At first sight, there was nothing suspicious in that infirmary. Of course, Twilight had to inspect a little. She proceeded to inspect the beds, the desk and the cupboards with no apparent result. But one more time, the good eye of Spike detected something metallic behind one of the bottles of the medicine. Twilight used her magic to pick up the key from behind the bottle. There was a tag attached on it. Spike proceeded to read the tag.
"Wow, this is hard to read... The writing is very small in this tag..." said Spike trying to read the tag.
"Small writing? What's the sense of that for the tag of a key?" said Twilight surprised about this fact.
"I don't know... Wait, I think I got it... It says 'Don't forget the bottle. Storage.'"
"The bottle? It means this bottle?" said Twilight pointing at the bottle where the key was seconds ago.
"Probably, but the tag also says 'Storage'. Probably the bottle is in the storage of the school."
Twilight hesitate for a moment. The fact that everything in this school was so riddled, was making her head explode of confusion. And what about that strange yellow piece of paper that makes her see strange visions? Was that paper enchanted or something? A lot of questions, but zero answers. Twilight didn't have much choice but to continue. She will think about all those things later.
Twilight took a look to the bottle were the key was hidden before. The label of that bottle in specific was different. The other bottles of medicine was different, yeah, but all of them have a label of color white in general. But the label of that bottle was red; red garnet. It has no name at all, just a big word written with black ink: "HEALER".
"A healing bottle? Why would I need this?" said Twilight confused.
"I don't know, but the tag of the key said that we have to take it with us. Probably will be useful in the future?" said Spike with some ignorance.
"Spike, don't you see? This is a healing bottle! If a bottle like this is here, that means that probably we're gonna get hurt in the future!" said Twilight with some fear.
Spike fell silent after that. His eyes widened with the realization of this fact. Now Spike was really scared... Until he realized about a fact.
"Maybe that's true, but... Maybe this bottle is just for prevention! There's no reason for us getting hurt... Right?" said Spike with fear in that last word.
"Y-yeah, you're right Spike... But if this is bottle is here, we can't lower our guard." said Twilight with serenity.
"Yeah, you're right... Let's take that bottle and continue. Princess Cadance is waiting for us," said Spike with a sudden boost of determination.
"Alright."
Twilight took the bottle with her magic, and she gave it to Spike. After that, Twilight trotted out of the infirmary with the storage of the school as destination. The storage wasn't too far from there. It was near of the table of the janitor. When they arrived to the door of the storage, Twilight used the key on the door, and this unlocked with a satisfying 'click'. When Twilight was about to push the door and open it, a sudden cry of a filly could be heard through the left corridor, behind the wooden doors. Twilight and Spike were paralyzed. Their fear striking as a sharpened blade straight at their nerves. Their hearts were racing. None of them dared to talk or move for a few seconds. When the cry ceased, the silence was complete. The only sounds? Their breathing and their hearts beating strong and fast. At last, Spike talked with a whisper.
"T-twilight... D-did you hear that?!"
"Y-yes... I-it was the cry of a filly..."
"I-I told you there were g-ghosts of schoolfillies in abandoned s-schoolhouses..."
"W-well... Is over now... L-let's continue..."
Twilight pushed slowly the door, making it open with a squeak. Twilight trotted inside of the storage with slow hoofsteps. The storage was very small. There were just a bunch of wooden boxes with rotten food, and some cupboards with rusty tools in them. Of course, there was a key in one of them. The key was for the Music Classroom.
"Wait... There is a music classroom?" said Spike, still a bit scared.
"Of course. What school doesn't have a music classroom?" said Twilight with honesty.
"Oh... I didn't know that... Learning things even in creepy places!" said Spike trying to change the ambient.
"Yeah, hehe..." said Twilight, smiling lamely.
"Here it is, music classroom!" said Twilight looking at the wooden door of the classroom.
It took a while for the couple to find it. It was actually on the second floor, in one of the connecting corridors. Twilight gulped after using the key to unlock the door. After the ghostly cry of before, Twilight has been feeling unsafe all the time. Same with Spike, but at least he was trying to calm the situation with his usual good humor.
The door opened. The classroom was kinda spacious. There were a bunch of wooden chairs around a big black piano, with a metallic desk near the blackboard in the north wall of the class. There was nothing written on the blackboard, but Twilight spotted a white piece of paper on the desk. Twilight picked up the paper, realizing about the grey suitcase that was on the desk. Twilight started to read the paper with curiosity.
My third is your second.
Your second is her first.
Her fourth is his third.
And his third is my second.
Twilight didn't understand anything. She didn't know why this paper has written a riddle like that. But then, she looked at the suitcase. She trotted behind the desk to have a good look of the suitcase, and then she saw it.
A padlock with a combination of four numbers.
"This can't be serious..." said Twilight disappointed.
"We have to solve that riddle to open this suitcase? Why?" said Spike irritated.
"I don't know, but that's how things are right now... Let's see..."
Twilight fell to a sitting position on the ground, and the couple started to think about the riddle. The riddle was confusing, but they know it has a solution. It took several minutes for them to figure out the solution... Well, Twilight was the one who figured out that.
"I think I have it..."
Twilight got up and trotted to the suitcase. Spike looked at the suitcase with curiosity about the solution. Twilight started to introduce the numbers in the padlock: "3-3-2-2" . The padlock opened with a satisfying 'click' followed by the smile of Twilight feeling the victory.
"It was that simple? Really?" said Spike dumbfounded.
"It wasn't that simple, you know?" said Twilight with a smile.
"Yeah, probably..." said Spike forgetting the riddle.
The suitcase opened, and inside of it... Yeah, another key. This one was for the wooden doors in front of the entrance. Probably they will guide them to another corridor, or a courtyard. At least, that was their theory.
"Stupid schoolhouses and their reign of keys..." said Spike with some irritation, making Twilight chuckle a bit.
Twilight used the key on the wooden doors, unlocking them with the usual 'click'. Once opened, Twilight trotted in. How they supposed, it was another connecting corridor. Empty as hell, with no light at all, and another pair of wooden doors at the end of the corridor. Twilight started trotting through the corridor when the doors behind them slammed shut by themselves, startling the couple and making them look back. A new deep silence appeared in the place. Twilight recovered from the scare, and continued trotting. When she reached the end of the corridor, Twilight pushed the doors, but they won't budge. Twilight tried pushing them several times, but nothing. They didn't move an inch. A new fear started growing in the couple, making their eyes wide.
"O-okay Twilight, do not panic... Let's return and look for another key or something," said Spike trying to calm his friend.
"Y-yeah, you're right Spike..." said Twilight trying to relax.
Twilight turned back and started trotting, when a distant sound appeared from nowhere. It was... a tribal chant? Twilight started to look around her with panic. The tribal chant grew more and more, until the point that they could be behind the wooden doors at that moment. Twilight didn't know what to do. She was just looking everywhere with panic and confusion. She could feel the tribal chant everywhere. But then, a loud bang sounded through the wooden doors, making Twilight scream of the scare. And then, complete silence. The tribal chant disappeared completely. The deep silence was there again, and for once Twilight liked it.
An unlocking sound came from the wooden doors. Twilight looked at them surprised. Somepony unlocked them? Who? The same one who make that tribal chant and that loud bang to the door? What kind of bad joke is this?!
Twilight stopped asking questions in her mind, and started trotting to the doors with fear. When she was in front of them, Twilight pushed them slowly, gulping and getting ready for whatever was gonna happen now.
A small pink alicorn was sitting in a wooden bench of the school. She was sad. The other fillies were with their friends; laughing, playing, and being happy. But that pink filly was alone and sad, looking at the floor lost in her thoughts.
"Alone again, young filly?"
The pink alicorn looked up surprised about that voice. It was an old grey pony with black tail and mane. He was dressed with a white shirt with a big black word: "The Janitor". He was the best friend of the pink filly at the moment. He always been there when she was feeling alone and sad. He was like a father for her.
"Mister Janitor... Everypony laughs at me because I dream with being a princess in the future... Everypony thinks that's an impossible dream... It's not fair!" said the filly with some tears in her eyes. The janitor looked at her with a sad face, but a bright smile went through his face after some seconds.
"My dear Mia Amore Cadenza, your dream is as beautiful like any other dream. Your dream is not impossible at all my dear, but probably it will be difficult. But you know what? If you never give up and stay determined with your dream, I'm sure you will make it." said the janitor with all his heart. An innocent smile painted on Cadance's face.
"Do you really think that?" said Cadance with a new hope.
"Of course, my dear! Everypony can accomplish everything if they really want to. And you're not different from them. You're a clever filly. I'm sure you'll be a beautiful princess in the future."
Cadance smiled and gave a warm hug to the janitor. He returned it with pleasure. But in that moment, Cadance's teacher passed through the corridor, and saw the tender scene. She looked at the janitor with disgust.
"Oh please, you again... Stop being a pedophile and do your job for once!"
The teacher continued her way with anger. That pony was awful. Cadance and the janitor knew very well. They will never understand why that mare was a teacher in this schoolhouse. Cadance looked at the janitor, who had a serious look after what the teacher said to him.
"Don't listen to her, mister janitor. You're a wonderful pony, and my best friend!" said Cadance giving him another hug. That always make him happy, and that's the reason of his work in that schoolhouse. He loved kids.
"WHAT?! WHERE?! WHEN?! HOW?!" said Twilight dumbfounded of her new location.
The school was not the school anymore. The ceiling was brown and decaying, with some blood stains. Same with the walls. The floor was not tiles anymore, but rusted grates instead. The scene changed from a normal ghostly schoolhouse, to an ominous decaying place were some kind of "massacre" happened there. Twilight and Spike were completely surprised of this sudden change of ambient and scene.
"What the hell happened to the school?!" asked Spike with wide eyes.
"I don't know Spike, but this place... Now is more... How could I describe this?" said Twilight with a fearing tone.
"...Dark? Sinister? CRAZY?!" said Spike with panic in his words.
"Exactly... I don't like this Spike... If this is a product from the curse of the town, then the curse is way more serious than I though..."
"What are we gonna do now, Twilight?" said Spike trying to relax, but with no apparent results.
"Continue... That's what we have to do now... I really hope Princess Cadance is okay..." said Twilight worried about the princess.
"Yeah, me too..." said Spike gulping.
Twilight looked around to get a better perspective of the place. She could see two doors in front of her, and another two doors at her left and right. She was sure the doors were made of wood, but the splashes of blood were covering everything of those doors. She started to trot and tried to open the doors. Most of the doors were jammed, except one of the right wall of the room. When Twilight opened it, a new long corridor appeared. It was the right corridor of the main floor of the schoolhouse, but the macabre version of it.
Twilight tried to open each door that appeared in her vision, but all of them were jammed. Other than that, she could see some brown barrels, with some strange green liquid on them. Nothing in that corridor was interesting. After trying to open each door of the corridor with no results, she started to look for something interesting in that corridor, when she spotted a stairwell going upstairs. She trotted upstairs until she reached to a new corridor full of the same things: Destroyed barrels, wooden doors with blood stains, and a state of decaying everywhere.
"Why there are so many jammed doors here?" said Spike a little bit tired of so many jammed doors.
"I don't know... Is like if somepony were guiding us through a specific way of this... 'bizarre' version of the school," said Twilight pensive.
"But who?! Who could be in this crazy place?!" said Spike impressed.
"I don't know Spike, but we can't stop here asking questions about the logic of this place. Remember that this is probably a trick from the curse of the town. Probably there's nopony in there, but the curse is trying to give us a fake hope." said Twilight with security in her words.
"Twilight... I'm surprised that you're so relaxed in this world... Because I'm scared as hell!" said Spike still impressed.
The observation of the dragon made Twilight think. It was true. She was surprised at the beginning, but she felt more relaxed while she was trying to open the jammed doors. Was that normal? She should be feeling terrified right now? In that case, why she was so relaxed in comparison with Spike? Was the curse playing with her more than she thought?
A loud thud brought Twilight back to reality, and making Spike jump out of his skin. A rolling barrel appeared from the darkness before. The barrel stopped at Twilight 's hooves. Twilight couldn't use her magic in that moment because she was using it for illuminating the place, so she picked up the barrel with her hooves, letting it standing up on the ground. That was the moment where she saw that the barrel was open from above. Twilight looked into the barrel, and saw a small grey box with two yellow pieces of paper at it's sides. Twilight picked them up with some effort. The box had a padlock with three numbers to insert. Twilight picked up one of the papers, and started to read.
"The mistress Binary Shimmer is a real fanatic of Binary Language. One day, a student asked her about the reason of her obsession. Her answer was: Do you know something about the Elements of Harmony? "
Twilight thought about the paper. The writing style was the same of the note she saw at the table of the janitor. This was probably a part from his diary too? Twilight gave the paper to Spike for him to read it while Twilight started to read the other piece of paper.
It was a table of the Binary Language.
"What is this? Another riddle?" said Spike after reading the paper.
"I think so, but the solution is very easy this time." said Twilight with a smile.
"Really?" said Spike, confused as usual.
Twilight picked up the box and started to put the numbers: "1-1-0" . The padlock opened with a 'click', releasing it from the lock of the box. Twilight opened the box and saw a new key inside of it. Twilight picked up the key reading the tag of it.
"Open the door of your left. I'm not gonna help you again. "
Twilight looked at her left, and saw a door slowly opening by itself. That sent chills through her spine. It was clear now: Somepony was helping them... But who?
"T-Twilight..." said Spike scared. "T-the notes... They turned into ash by themselves..."
"What?!" said Twilight surprised.
That was when she noticed that the box and the barrel disappeared completely. The only remaining thing was the key. Twilight's mouth fall agape at this realization. The things were turning into ash all this time!? It would explain how they were so light of items after all the things that they found through their way, but...
"The curse..." said Twilight with a whisper. "The curse is playing with us, Spike."
Spike fell silent, unable to say anything. Twilight was as confused as him, but staying there letting the curse play with their minds was not going to help them at all. They had to continue and accept the help of that mysterious pony that was helping them. With this in mind, Twilight started trotting through the opened door. A new corridor appeared to them, but this corridor was completely empty. No doors or barrels at sight. Twilight crossed the corridor until she spotted a door at her left. She tried to open in, but it was locked. She could see a lock for a key to this door. Twilight used the key on the door, and it opened with the usual 'click'. In that moment, Twilight saw how the key turned quickly into ash.
"How didn't I see it turning into ash before?" said Twilight surprised about this fact.
Spike was quiet. He still was unable to say anything. He was very scared about this place. She could feel the strong and fast heartbeats of the baby dragon on her back. Twilight was worried about that. Twilight stopped using his magic to illuminate the place, making the place be pitch black.
"T-Twilight?! What happened?! Why did you...?!"
The dragon started the float with a purple aura around him. Twilight was grabbing him with her magic. He could feel the movements in the air, until he felt the purple aura fading. The dragon landed softly on the ground, when Twilight used again her magic to illuminate the place. That was the moment when the dragon realized that Twilight was hugging him warmly. Spike returned the warm hug with a smile.
"Don't worry about anything, Spike. I'm here with you, and I'm not gonna let anything hurt you," said Twilight with a calming tone.
"Thanks Twilight." said Spike, relaxing at last. "I'm here with you too, Twilight. We can survive this together. I'm sure of it."
Twilight was thankful for the words of her number one assistant, but she wasn't feeling that confident about 'surviving this'. She was not going to give up on this quest of course, but she was sure that this... 'adventure' was going to be a nightmare.
Twilight opened her eyes, still hugging the baby dragon. She saw something different on the door that she unlocked some seconds ago. A small piece of paper was attached to the door now. She could read it with no problems.
"The town doesn't like shows of affection. Stop with that and continue. I'm risking a lot to help you, you know? "
Twilight felt irritated with that, but probably that pony was right. They had to continue or the curse will make them crazy... How many times did she said that since she got in this madness?
"Let's continue Spike. We don't have time to waste," said Twilight with a smile, letting Spike go.
"No problem!" said Spike with a new optimism.
Twilight used her magic to bring the dragon back to her back, and Twilight started to trot through the door. The new room was small, with a door at the left and another door at the right, but it was filled with skeletons and blood. The couple grimaced at it, feeling their stomachs flipping. It took some seconds for the couple to recover from that horrible sight. Other than that, there was a metallic table in front of them with a rusty pipe on it. Twilight used her magic to pick up the pipe, wondering why it was there.
Suddenly, the door of the right burst open. Twilight and Spike startled, looking at the door with fear. Something was coming through it. It looked like a scorpion, but it was way bigger than an average scorpion. It was as big as a pony. It's skin was black, with some parts of it's body decaying and falling apart from it. Instead of claws the creature had destroyed books, like if something attached the books to the body of the creature. It's sharp tail was the only thing that seemed normal on that creature, and probably it was it's only weapon.
The creature bellowed a wrenching cry that sent chills running down through the spines of the couple. Twilight took some steps back, holding the rusty pipe with her magic. She was going to use it as a weapon. She wasn't sure if that creature was hostile or not, but she wasn't going to took the risk of trying to be pacifist with it. The creature started to walk fast with it's tiny eight legs. The creature stopped in front of Twilight, getting it's tail ready to attack.
"Twilight, that monster is going to attack us!!!" said Spike with panic.
Twilight tried to concentrate while Spike was covering behind the neck of the purple unicorn. Twilight was ready to defend herself, waiting for the creature to make the first movement. The creature hesitated for a moment, when it attacked with a fast movement of it's tail. Twilight moved the pipe quickly, hitting the tail with it. The creature made a serpent sound in response, like if it was a snake. Twilight concentrated, getting ready to make an attack to the creature. The creature made another attack with it's tail. Twilight moved the pipe once more hitting the tail again with it, but this time Twilight made another quick movement and hit the head of the creature. The creature cried in pain, taking some steps back and covering the head with it's book claws.
Twilight took advantage of the situation, and galloped away from the creature to the next room. Twilight slammed shut the door that the creature opened before, looking for a place to hide. Unfortunately, the room was filled with skeletons and blood too, with nothing more. There were three doors in that room: One at her left, one at her right, and another one in front of her. There was no time to think about what door she should choose. She galloped to the door of her right, and by a miracle of Celestia, the door opened. A new long corridor appeared to her, with a lot of new doors through it.
Twilight would feel irritated at the new amount of probably jammed doors that appeared in front of her, but she was too panicked to feel like that in that moment. She had to find a hiding spot or something. She didn't want to fight that creature. Twilight galloped through the corridor, looking for some hiding spot. In the middle of the way, she found a door completely opened. She galloped through the door, and slammed it shut with her magic.
The new room was a classroom. There was no chairs at all, but instead a large metallic table with eight small red boxes on it. Of course the table was rusty with blood splashes on it, but the small red boxes were immaculate. Twilight decided to hide under the large table, and prayed for the luck of the couple. Complete silence. The tension was horrible. She could hear a distant thud accompanied with the light steps of the creature. Twilight felt how the creature stopped in front of the door of the class were the couple were hiding. Their hearts were racing, completely terrified and praying for their safety. After a couple of seconds the creature continued it's way, getting away from the classroom. Twilight fell on the ground with Spike at her side. The both of them hyperventilating, not believing the luck that they had there.
"W-we... W-we are alive..." said Twilight with a victory tone.
"O-oh my god... I-I really thought that we were... T-that we were going to die..." said Spike, with no words to describe his relief.
"Y-yeah... M-me too..." replied Twilight with a smile.
The couple chuckled a little bit after that. They were going to die in that moment... That creature could perfectly kill them in just a second over there... But the mysterious pony helped them again. He or she probably put that pipe there for them to get defense. Twilight felt thankful this time for what that pony did... But still, they got a lot of luck this time. Twilight never used something for self-defense. She could have failed one movement back there, and ruin everything. But no... They were still alive somehow. Twilight didn't care about anything at that moment. She just wanted to rest a little bit; she just wanted to relax a little bit.
Minutes passed in front of their eyes when they felt ready again to fight against that bizarre place. Twilight got up and used her magic to put Spike on her back. Twilight looked around her in the classroom. Aside from the large table with the eight small red boxes, there were some old wooden shelves filled with the same green liquid as the barrels of before. There was a dusty blackboard in there, with something written on it with blood. Twilight grimaced at that.
*EiGhT cHeStS.
OnE gOoD.
OtHeR kIlLs.
Do-Ce-Le.
PeRsPeCtIvE.*
......
It was another riddle, but this was sinister than the other ones. One of the chests was the right one, but one mistake could mean the end of their journey. Twilight now was nervous.
"Twilight... Calm down. I'm sure you can solve this riddle with no problem... J-just calm down, okay?" said Spike, trying to relax his friend.
"I'll try... But I can feel a lot of pressure with this riddle," said Twilight with anxiety.
"I know... Take your time. We have to do this right," said Spike trusting in his friend.
"Thanks Spike..." said Twilight reading again the riddle.
"...I-I think this is the one..."
Twilight was in front of the box on the upper-right corner of the table. She was sure that it was the right box to choose, but she was scared of opening it anyway. What if it was not the right box? They would die instantly! At least, that's what the riddle said... Twilight checked the steps of her conclusion one more time. "Do-Ce-Le" must mean "Down-Center-Left". "Perspective" must mean the perspective from the writer's point of view. Following this, we conclude that the right box is the box from the left corner of the table from my perspective... right?
"Well, we thought about it a long time, and it have to be it... right?" said Spike with the same fear of opening the box as Twilight.
"Yeah... It have to be... L-let's open it..." said Twilight shaking of the fear.
"Y-ye-yeah... O-open it..." said Spike with his heart racing.
It was the time. It was live or die. Twilight slowly put her hoof on the box. She was shaking as hell. Her heart was racing, and she was hyperventilating with her eyes wide. It took several seconds for Twilight to be able to open the small box...
Only to found a key inside of it with the tag "Roof" attached on it.
Twilight fell to the ground with Spike. Her consciousness fading. She was fainting of the tension. But at least now she was relief, because she has chosen the right box. She couldn't believe her luck.
She was dreaming. She knew it. Twilight was in the middle of a pitch black world. She couldn't see nothing. She tried to use her magic to illuminate the place, but it was useless. What was she doing there?
Twilight started to hear a distant voice; the voice of a stallion. She concentrated to hear better that voice, but it was still distant and distorted. The voice started to get louder. She could hear it now perfectly.
"Stupid foal... I thought you were clever than that..."
Twilight started to wake up one more time. Spike was at her side, waking up too. Their synchronization for waking up together was impressive. They got up. They were still in that bizarre classroom with the large metallic rusty table, the eight small red boxes on it, the rotten shelves, and the blackboard with the riddle written with blood. The red box with the key inside was still opened. The couple hesitated for a moment, recovering their composure.
"So... We're still alive... Somehow..." said Spike looking at Twilight.
"Yeah... We must be the luckiest living creatures in the world right now," said Twilight with some irritation.
Twilight used her magic once more to illuminate the place, grabbing Spike and putting him on her back at the same time. Then, Twilight used her magic to pick up the key, and giving it to Spike. He still had the "Healer" bottle in his other hand. He was surprised about the fact that the bottle was still with him after everything that happened recently.
Twilight trotted out of the room. She was on the long dark corridor again. She started to inspect the corridor until she found a new stairwell leading upstairs and downstairs. With the "Roof" key in mind, Twilight started to go upstairs to the rooftop. It didn't take too long for her to reach it. Once on the rooftop, Twilight crossed the smaller corridor she saw so far. She reached to a new door, but this one was metallic instead of wooden. Spike gave Twilight the key, and she used it to unlock the door with the famous 'click'.
The outside was pitch black. It was night already, and was raining. Twilight was thankful for being able to breath fresh air. It was not the perfect ambient for it, but it was something.
"Free air, at last!" said Spike rising his arms, feeling the fresh air filling his lungs... Followed by his cough because of the raindrops.
"Yeah, I don't matter if is raining. I'm glad to be outside again," said Twilight with some relief.
"Who is there?"
The sudden voice startled the couple, looking around for the source of the voice. Then from the darkness, appeared the silhouette of a tall, pink pony with long purple, violet, and yellow hair that curled up around her side. Twilight and Spike started to smile after realizing who this pony was.
"PRINCESS CADANCE!!!" yelled Twilight giving a warm hug to the princess with tears welling at her eyes.
Cadance's eyes wide open at this. She was surprised. What the hell were doing Twilight and Spike here!? They weren't supposed to be here!!! This was very dangerous for them!!!
"We found you at last, princess! You don't know how difficult it has been!" said Spike with a big smile on his face, happy to see the princess again.
"B-bu-but, what the hell are you doing here?! Only pegasus and alicorns can-"
"Get out from this town; we already know that," said Spike with no surprise. Twilight got back from Cadance, looking at her eyes with happiness.
"Cadance, my brother is very worried about you! He sent us to fi-"
"Waitwaitwaitwait, wait... Shining Armor sent you here?!" said Cadance, not believing her ears.
"That's it! He's looking for you, you know?" the dragon replied.
"Cadance, you need to come back to the Crystal Empire! The crystal ponies needs your protection; the protection of their princess!" said Twilight, trying to argue with the princess.
Cadance hesitated. She were looking at her sister-in-law and the dragon, thinking about what she would do now. Twilight could note the grimace of panic on the pink mare's face. That worried Twilight. She wasn't expecting that reaction from her sister-in-law. Twilight looked back at Spike; this looking at Twilight confused about the behavior of the princess.
"T-twilight..." Cadance looked at the ground, sadness marking her face. Twilight looked back at her, unsure of what to expect from her now. "I didn't come here for nothing. I came here for saving my home of that damned curse. I will not come back to the Crystal Empire until I finish my work here."
Twilight's eyes widened. She wasn't expecting that answer, but deep in her heart she knew that Cadance was not going to leave this town so easily. She loved this place. This was her birth place after all. This town is where she passed most of her fillyhood. She was not going to give up so easily. Twilight could feel the determination on Cadance's words. She didn't know what to do now.
"But wait a minute! Why didn't you say this to Shining Armor? He could be helping you with this situation right now!" said Spike on the defensive.
"Exactly for that reason. He would have wanted to help me with the curse of the town, but I can't let him do that. We can't let the Crystal Empire by itself. There had to be at least one pony to take care of the empire in my absence, don't you think?" said Cadance with severity.
Spike fell quiet, not daring to ask nothing more. An awkward silence appeared between the ponies and the dragon; the sadness in their faces. Confusion and fear in their hearts while the three of them were thinking of what to say or do now. The raindrops falling onto their bodies. What would they do now? What would... wait, wasn't that obvious what they had to do now?
"Cadance... If we can't get out of this town, at least we could hel-"
"No, no way Twilight!!!" said Cadance suddenly, surprising the couple. "This is something I have to do for myself. This quest is mine, and mine only. I can't let you go through more dangerous situations. I don't want you to get hurt by the monsters of this place."
"Well, we had a wea-" Twilight fell quiet after realizing that the pipe had disappeared since they fainted after solving the puzzle of the eight red boxes. The town did it again; the town tricked their minds when their guard were off. Twilight's face grimaced, feeling unsafe one more time.
"Don't tell me... You had a weapon before but it vanished when you weren't looking, right?" said Cadance guessing what happened with the couple before. "Be careful with that, Twilight. This curse plays with our minds."
Twilight gulped. She already knew it, but now she was sure about it. Twilight looked up when she noticed that Cadance turned back, getting ready to take flight. Cadance looked back at Twilight one last time before starting to fly.
"I have to go now, Twilight. As soon as I find a solution to this problem, we will get out of this town and we will back to the Crystal Empire with Shining Armor and our friends. But I have to do this first... Forgive me for letting you all by yourself now. Look for a hiding spot or a weapon. You will need it... Good luck, friends."
Cadance took flight, flying fast through the dark sky of the rainy night. Twilight and Spike were left there by themselves, with fear and sorrow in their hearts. Twilight was looking at the floor while Spike was looking worried at the face of the pony.
"She left..." said Twilight with a whisper. Spike hesitated for a moment, after having a new burst of determination.
"Twilight, I think we have to help her. There's no way she can do this by herself. With our help, it will be easier to remove the curse from the town,"
The words of the baby dragon struck the heart of the lavender unicorn, feeling the determination and worry of the baby dragon. Twilight looked back at the dragon with a smile in her face. Spike smiled back at her after seeing her friend with better mood.
"You're right, Spike. Cadance needs our help more than never. Maybe we will die here if we go to help her, but we will die anyway if we don't do anything... Wow Spike, I never expected you to be the reassuring one here," said Twilight with a grin.
"Well, what can I say? I'm not your number one assistant for nothing!" said Spike with his usual ego, making Twilight chuckle a bit.
"Let's go Spike. We have to get out of here and look for Cadance. We don't have time to waste." said Twilight with a new determination.
"I'm with you, my friend!" said Spike smiling.
Twilight turned back and trotted to the metallic door that connected the rooftop with the inside of the griming school. Twilight went downstairs until she arrived to the long dark corridor were the classroom with the small red boxes are. But something was different now. The way through the corridor was blocked by a wall of rusty steel bars. Twilight raised an eyebrow at this. That wasn't there before.
"What are we gonna do now?" said Spike surprised about this new wall made of steel bars.
"We'll have to look for another way," said Twilight surprised about the same thing.
Twilight turned back and looked for some way, but the only way available was the stairwell going downstairs. It was clear then. Twilight trotted downstairs until reaching a new long and dark corridor. This one was different from the other ones. The corridor was perfectly clean. The walls and the ceiling had the usual rotting state, and the floor was still made of rusty metallic grates filled with blood stains and that strange green liquid, but the ambient was different. The ominous ambiance of darkness from before, was now replaced by an ambiance of silence and tension. Twilight gulped, trotting through the long corridor with fear.
After a whole minute of trotting in that long corridor, a metallic door appeared in front of her. The door was the same as the rooftop, but this one was completely filled with the green liquid, so the door was practically a green metallic door. Twilight put a hoof on the handle of the door, touching the sticky green liquid. Twilight grimaced at that. The handle turned slowly until the door opened. Twilight crossed the door and watched the surrounding of the new room. It was a big room, with empty cupboards in a state of decay and some metallic shelves that were practically destroyed. A large black liquid was covering the floor in the center of the room. Twilight approached to it with curiosity, closing softly the door behind her.
She regretted it immediately. Something wrong was happening. The large black liquid started to bubble up, pouring black smoke. It looked like it was being evaporated. The liquid started to move by itself, compressing into the center of the room. The liquid started to get form, bubbling up with fierceness. After some seconds, the liquid stopped bubbling, taking the physical form of the pony that was watching in awe what the liquid had just done. It had become into her doppelganger.
It started to trot towards Twilight with slow pulse. Twilight was impressed of that. She knew she was in danger in that moment. She wanted to scream and run from there, but her legs weren't responding to her orders. She could only watch in awe how her dark doppelganger was slowly approaching at her. Her head started to hurt, followed by a soft ringing in her head. Her headache and the ringing grew louder and louder as he was getting closer to her. The pain was unbearable. Twilight put her hooves on her head closing her eyes, wanting that madness to end. In the darkness of her closed eyes, she felt a hot hoof touching her face.
Everything went quiet after that, with Twilight fainting once more.
Shining Armor was walking from side to side of the throne room with worry. A crystal guard from the palace was watching him, not knowing what to say. It was obvious that Shining Armor was worried about her wife and her sister. Her head was a tornado of questions in that moment. Were they alright? They need help maybe? Should he go to that town with some soldiers to investigate? He knew that he couldn't leave the Crystal Empire just like that, but he couldn't just stay there waiting for something to happen!
"Sir, calm down! I'm sure Princess Cadance and Twilight Sparkle are okay," said the crystal guard worried about his captain. Shining Armor looked at his guard with severity.
"Rub, it's been three days since my sister went to Foalmond looking for Cadance. Do you really think I can calm down in a situation like this? Probably they're in a bad situation!" said Shining Armor with concern.
"But how do you know it, sir? Why do you think they're in danger right now?" said Rub arguing with him.
"I'm simply sure of it..." Shining Armor turned and trotted to a window at the left of his throne. He watched the sunrise while images of Cadance and Twilight crossed his mind. "Looks like we need to use the heavy artillery..."
"What do you mean, sir?" said Rub with curiosity.
Shining Armor hesitated, taking a deep breath. The following seconds were silent, with the singing of the outside birds as only sounds.
"Rub... Call the 'Commander of Elite'!" said Shining Armor with decision. Rub's eyes widened at the mention of this.
"The Commander of Elite?! Really?!" said Rub surprised.
"Yes, there aren't more options... Call him, quick!" ordered Shining Armor.
"Yes, sir!" said Rub obediently.
Rub left the room, leaving Shining Armor alone. He was still looking at the sunrise, thinking on her wife and her sister.
"Twilight... How could I get you into this?" Shining Armor was sad. He was feeling guilty about sending his own sister to that cursed town... Probably she was dead now... No, he couldn't lose hope yet. Probably she was alive with Cadance at her side. "Cadance... I hope you are okay..."
Somepony knocked the door. Shining got back to reality, turning back and trotting to his throne. The heavy artillery was here.
"Come in!"
The door opened. A red stallion appeared through the corridor, trotting slowly to Shining Armor. The stallion was a red pegasi with black tail and mane. Her eyes were yellow, and his face was filled with seriousness. He was wearing a silver armor and a helmet with a small "II" marked on it's front. He had a longsword kept in a scabbard suspended from his shoulder.
Shining Armor smiled at his old friend. The pegasi looked at his sir with the same seriousness than before.
"Did you call me, sir?" said the pegasi with his intimidating voice.
"Yes, Master Max. I have a new mission for you, my old friend. This mission is difficult, and you may not come back alive... Are you interested?" said Shining Armor with severity, expecting some reaction from the pegasi.
"Of course, my lord. I've been at worse missions than this," said Max with no fear.
"Excellent... You probably heard something about the disappearing of Princess Cadance, right?"
"Yes, sir. And let me guess... You want me to go and rescue her, don't you?" said Max with a bit of impertinence.
"Correct... My sister went to rescue her some days ago, but she hasn't come back... I fear the worst..." said Shining Armor with sadness.
"Don't worry sir, I will rescue Princess Cadance and Twilight Sparkle from that cursed town. You can count on me," said Max with determination.
"Thanks, Master Max. I knew I could count on you," said Shining Armor with a new hope.
"If that's everything, I will leave now. I will depart towards Foalmond as soon as possible," said Max turning back and trotting towards the door.
"Good luck, Master Max. You're my last hope."
Twilight woke up. She was lying on the floor, in front of the main doors of the schoolhouse. Twilight got up and looked around her. The school was again at it's normal state, just like when she entered in it. A rope and a piece of paper were in the floor, this last waiting for her to be read. A message was written on it with blue ink, making Twilight realize that it was a message from the mysterious pony. Twilight used her magic to pick up the note, and she read it.
"You're alive thanks to me. Is hard to survive here in Foalmond, but if a coward like me can survive this madness, you can survive here too. I saw your alicorn friend going to "Hoofshelves Apartments". I'll be waiting for you there. Sorry if I'm not showing myself, but the curse doesn't like meetings."
"Oh, so you're nice with us now?" said Twilight remembering the last time she read a note from him.
Twilight heard a soft groan behind her. Twilight turned back and saw Spike lying on the floor, waking up. Spike rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands, yawning at the same time.
"Good morning, Twilight... I had an horrible nightmare! We were at a ghost town with a strange curse, and there was a school, and cries of schoolfillies, and a yellow piece of paper that was chasing you everywhere, and a lot of riddles, and a tribal chant, and a macabre version of the school, and a strange monster that wanted to kill us, and Cadance was on the rooftop of that school, and..."
Twilight was looking at him incredulously, waiting for him to realize about his surroundings. Spike fell quiet when he saw the incredulous face of Twilight. Spike then looked around him... Spike sighed.
"It wasn't a dream, right?" said Spike with a hand on his forehead.
"I'm afraid not," said Twilight with worry.
Spike got up and walked to the rope in the floor. Spike took it, wondering about the possible use of it. Getting rid of the piece of paper, Twilight used her magic to put Spike on her back one more time.
"Let's get outta here. A friend is waiting for us at 'Hoofshelves Apartments'," said Twilight with clear ideas.
"A friend? Who?" asked Spike confused.
"The mysterious pony. He said me that in a paper," she replied.
"Oh, I see... But where are those apartments?" asked Spike again.
"...I don't know to be honest..." said Twilight frowning.
"Well, we'll need to find it ourselves then," said Spike with eagerness.
"Yeah, it seems so," said Twilight.
Twilight crossed the main doors of the schoolhouse, tasting the dense fog of the town again. It was daylight again. Twilight choose a way and started to trot through it, hoping that they would find the apartments eventually.
That house was different from the others. The color of that house was a mix of grey and blue, and the bricks were old enough to be covered by some vegetation. The main door of the house has no handle, so the door was completely impossible to open without breaking it. The windows were closed, with no light at the other side of them. Four brown barrels were around the house, with a new skeleton behind one of them. The water well of the house was also different, completely made of cerulean bricks. That was a weird color for the external walls of a house and a water well. Who was this house?
Twilight trotted to the wooden sign of the house, that was a little bit destroyed. She had a hard time reading it, but she could guess the words.
"TRIXIE LULAMOON'S HOUSE"
"WHAT?!" said the couple in unison.
Twilight and Spike were surprised about this. Trixie Lulamoon? The same Trixie that tried to slave the citizens of Ponyville not so long ago?
"Was she from this town?!" said Spike dumbfounded.
"Wow... I never would expect this... Poor Trixie," said Twilight, feeling bad for her.
Twilight left the sign and trotted around the house. She was sure that that house wasn't different by coincidence. She inspected the surroundings of the house, but she didn't find nothing.
"Twilight, what about the rope we found at the school? We could try to take a look at the water well with it," said Spike finding a use to the rope.
"Well, we can try," said Twilight without hesitation.
Spike tied the rope around his body and Twilight grabbed him with her magic, introducing him into the water well. The water well was empty, like every water well of this town, but something shiny caught the attention of the baby dragon. Spike reached out the new key with no problem.
"I got it, Twilight! Is a new key!" said Spike with a smile.
"Another key? This is getting repetitive," said Twilight observant.
Twilight took out Spike from the water well, putting him again on her back. Spike read the tag of the key with a smile.
"Hoofshelves Apartments... That is not what are we looking for?" said Spike with the realization.
"Correct. Now we have to find the apartments... Where they could be?" said Twilight drawing a mental map of the town.
"I don't know... We'll have to continue doing the same thing: continuing forward until we find something," said Spike with honesty.
"Yeah, that's the best thing we can do for now," said Twilight dejected.
Twilight turned back, trotting again through the road of the town, but something stopped her suddenly. There was a shadow in the fog, followed by the sound of slow hoofsteps. The shadow was of a tall pony, but the way he/she was trotting was weird... It made Twilight doubt about if that shadow was really a pony or not. The pony stopped, looking away from Twilight. It took several seconds for the pony to start trotting again, now walking at the opposite direction from the point of view of Twilight. The pony moved away slowly, getting lost in the fog of the town.
The tension dissapeared. Twilight exhaled, letting out air that was holding in her lungs. Twilight's eyes were wide, thinking fast about what that shadow could really be.
"T-Twilight... W-was that really a pony?" asked Spike, shaking from the recent event.
"I don't know Spike... It looked like a pony, but... I couldn't say for sure if it was a pony or not," said Twilight with honesty.
"W-well... L-let's hope that that 'pony' is not dangerous..." said Spike with fear.
"Yeah..." said Twilight, feeling the fear of Spike.
"HOOFSHELVES APARTMENTS"
The big colored sign of the apartments was in front of the couple. They found it; the apartments. The bigger building with the external similar design of the school, was in front of them. Twilight trotted to the main doors of the apartments, getting ready the key to use it in the keyhole. Twilight gulped thinking about what new atrocities they were going to meet there. The message of the mysterious pony came in mind too. Were they going to meet him? How would he look like? Cadance is really in these apartments?
'Stop with the doubts, and open the door' said Twilight in her mind. Twilight unlocked the door and opened it.
The lobby of the apartments was very spacious. The walls were made of blue and white plaster, with some old decorations on them. The floor was made of rotten wood, with some moss growing on it. The ceiling was made of dark grey plaster, with a broken light hanging from it. At her sides, were some old couches; probably for waiting ponies to sit on. At her front, the receptionist desk. It hadn't nothing special. Twilight trotted through the lobby, finding stairs at her left and a dark wooden door at her right. She tried to open the door but it was locked, so she turned to her left and started going upstairs.
She arrived to the first floor, were a small corridor made of dark blue plaster in general appeared. Twilight trotted through it until she found more stairs at her left and another dark wooden door at her right. She tried to open the door, but it was locked too. Sighing of her failure, Twilight went upstairs once more.
Twilight now was at the second floor; the last one of the apartments. There was another corridor made of dark blue plaster in general, and another dark wooden door at the end of it. Twilight trotted to the door losing her patience, and tried to open it. Twilight felt relief of being able to open the damn door because if it had been locked too, Twilight would explode of this ridiculous maze of locked doors. Twilight sighed trying to relax, proceeding to cross the door.
She was in the middle of a tight corridor, darkness at her left and right. Twilight had to use her magic to illuminate the place. Now the floor was made of dark blue tiles, the walls were still made of blue and grey plaster, and the ceiling was made of a very dark color. It was so dark, that was impossible to determine the material that was made of. The silence of that corridor sent chills through the spines of the couple. Twilight looked at her left, and saw a lot of wooden doors with the number of the door at their sides. At her right, the way was blocked by five steel bars that were penetrating the ceiling and the floor. She didn't have much choice than go to her left. After trying to open the doors that she were finding through the corridor, she found a door that was open.
Room 204. Twilight trotted in and looked around the room. There were some dressers and a lot of boxes filled with rotten food, except one of them that was empty. There were some immaculate paintings of famous ponies of the past. There was a cupboard filled with crystal bottles of water and wine. There was a wooden table with torn papers on it, with a small wooden chair under it. There was a dusty mirror, a nonfunctional clock, and a double bed with green bed sheets. It must be the room of a marriage.
There were a lot of things in that room, but most of them were useless. Twilight inspected all those things with the help of Spike, but they weren't finding anything interesting or out of place. Twilight was tired of it, so she sat on the floor trying to rest. Spike was giving a second look to everything, until he found something at last. There were two things in the empty box that was between the boxes filled of rotten food. One of the things was a key (Surprise surprise...), but the other thing was a small object with the shape of the letter "N". That caught the attention of the baby dragon, taking the key and the object with him to show them at Twilight.
"Twilight, look what I found!" said Spike showing the key and the object at her.
Twilight took first the key, reading the tag that said "Ground Floor Key". Twilight returned the key to Spike, now taking a look to the object with the shape of a "N". This caught the attention of the mare. Probably it was something useless, but Spike found it with the key at the same place... That couldn't be a coincidence. She was sure that she was going to need it, but for what? She didn't know, but she was going to find it out.
Twilight used the key and the door of the ground floor (At the side of the receptionist desk, at the lobby) unlocked with the usual 'click' and opened. A new tight corridor with darkness at her sides appeared. This time, it was reversed. The right way was free and filled with doors, and the left way was blocked by the same five steel bars. Twilight turned right and started trotting. Twilight was really getting tired of trying to open jammed doors. What was the point of that ridiculous design?! She finally found a door that was opened, but god damn!
Room G-12. This room wasn't so full of things; There was a wooden table with four chairs around it, another nonfunctional clock, a mirror with better appearance, a pointless painting, a red flag hanging from the wall, wooden shelves with old and dusty books, and the same double bed with the same green bed sheets. Twilight inspected the room, finding a small metallic safe that she hadn't seen before. The safe had a word combination lock. Twilight felt that she was going to need whatever was inside that safe, but she hadn't the combination, so she was going to need to go and look for the combination to unlock it.
Twilight continued inspecting the room after that. She approached to the wooden table with the four chairs around it, and found something on it. It was another object. This one has the shape of the letter "O". Twilight grabbed it with her magic, and gave it to Spike. With nothing more of interest in that room, Twilight left it. Twilight stopped in the dark corridor, thinking about her new destination.
"So well? Why are we standing here?" asked Spike after some seconds of awkward silence.
"We have no key now, Spike. What can we do now?" asked Twilight thoughtful.
"Mmmm... What about those steel bars blocking the way?" asked Spike after thinking.
"The steel bars? What's the matter with them?" asked Twilight trying to understand the baby dragon.
"Well, maybe there's some way to cross those steel bars... I have the feeling that there must be something behind those," said Spike pensive.
"Well, we don't have a clear way to continue right now, so why not?" said Twilight without much encouragement.
Twilight remembered the mysterious pony in that moment. Wasn't he supposed to be here waiting for them? Where is he then?
Twilight trotted through the corridor, returning to the steel bars. But when they arrived, a tall purple pony was staring at them at the other side of the steel bars. It was a stallion.
Twilight and Spike smiled, thinking that that was the mysterious pony. The pony had a lifeless expression, showing despair in his dull and distorted eyes. That scared Twilight a little bit.
"Oh, hello! Are you the pony that has been helping us this whole time?" said Twilight with sympathy.
The pony didn't answer. He was staring at the couple deeply, like if he was trying to look in their souls. That sent chills through the spine of Twilight.
"Umm... Can you hear me, sir?" asked Twilight, now frowning.
No answer from the purple pony. They stayed there, looking at each other with an awkward silence. After some seconds, the purple pony moved lightly one of his arms, sliding a key through the steel bars. Twilight looked at the key, grabbing it with her magic. "First Floor Key" could be read in the tag of the key. Twilight gave the key to Spike and looked forward to see the purple pony again. She was going to thank him for the key, but the purple pony wasn't there anymore. Twilight's ears twitched after this event.
"What just happened?" said Spike impressed.
"That purple pony... Do you think it was really a pony?" said Twilight, looking worried at Spike.
"Well, he gave us a new key, so I think he's not dangerous... Do you think that's the mysterious pony?" said Spike pensive.
"I don't know... I was expecting a normal pony like us, not that..." said Twilight with fear.
"Well, that doesn't matter anymore. Let's continue," said Spike looking at Twilight.
"Yes, you're right... Let's go," said Twilight turning back.
Twilight saw how the key turned to ash after opening the door of the first floor. She forgot again about that fact, but she wasn't surprised this time. Twilight crossed the door; a new dark corridor at sight. This time, there were no steel bars blocking the way. Twilight took a deep breath, getting ready to try to open more jammed doors... At least, that was the last floor where she had to do that.
After some minutes, Twilight found the winner door. The door was near of five steel bars that Twilight thought that didn't existed in that corridor. Room 113. Twilight put a hoof on the door knob, opening the door in an instant.
This wasn't a room; this was a corridor. Twilight didn't expect that. A straight long corridor was in front of them, with the deep darkness surrounding them. The light of her horn was the only thing that they had of illumination. Twilight could hear some strange distant noises, like if somepony was trying to squirm at the other side of the corridor. Twilight started to trot through the corridor, gulping with the raising of her nerves. Spike was shaking at her back, looking terrified at his front. After a while walking through the endless corridor, the distant sound of strong hoofsteps could be heard passing through their left, where the walls of the corridor were present. There was another corridor at the other side of the walls? And those hoofsteps...
Twilight reached the end of the corridor. There was nothing there, just a plaster wall. Twilight panicked, thinking that she was trapped, until she turned back and looked at her right. There was a hole in the right wall that wasn't there before. The hole was big enough for the couple to cross it. Twilight didn't hesitate and crossed the hole, ignorant of what could happen now.
Pitch blackness. Twilight was standing on a bridge of rusty grates. There was no wall or ceiling at sight. Everything was black... with only one way to follow. The baby dragon and the lavender unicorn were unable to talk; the fear and surprise marked on their hearts, making them speechless. Twilight's legs were moving through the metallic bridge, but her mind was seduced by the amazement of the situation. Ghostly voices started to sound in her mind, voices from familiar ponies and strangers.
"You'll keep him while you study at the School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight. He will be your number one assistant until you are old enough to decide what to do with him."
"How could I forget the filly I love to sit for the most?"
"Hey come on, don't cry! It can't be so bad! It must have something good, right?"
"You're my little sister. Of course you're important to me. But I would understand if you didn't want to be my best mare now."
"You'll regret hating me. You'll see..."
"Spike, take a note, please. I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville."
A metallic door was in front of them. Probably it was the exit of that hypnotic place. Twilight trotted slowly, with her eyes wide and her mind in another world. Twilight stopped a few inches from the door, even if she wasn't aware of it. The door started to open slowly, showing the purple pony at the other side of it. There he was again, staring deeply into Twilight's eyes, trying to look at her soul. Twilight started to hear a low ringing in her head. She couldn't move, so she wasn't able to cover her ears. The ringing grew louder and louder. In that moment, the dark doppelganger of Twilight appeared behind her. She wasn't able to see her, but she knew somehow that she was there.
The doppelganger touched Twilight's flank with one of her hoofs, feeling the heat of it's touch. It was burning her flank. Twilight wanted to scream of the pain, but she was completely paralyzed. Her impotence filled her heart with panic. Blood started to emerge from her flank, feeling the burning like a sharp blade. Tears started to emerge from Twilight's eyes. That was the only thing she could do besides screaming in her mind. Her hind leg couldn't resist anymore, failing and causing Twilight to collapse. Twilight felt pathetic, laying on the floor with her flank bleeding and unable to move an inch. She was crying, begging in her mind for the torture to stop. She couldn't resist anymore and fainted, hoping that she would wake up again.
That couldn't be the end of her journey...
A teenager stallion was lying on the bed of his room. He was in the Emerald Room, the best room of the apartments, but he wasn't feeling that important to have the privilege of being in a room like that. The stallion was looking at the ceiling, thinking about his future. He was about to do an important step in his life, and he knew it was going to be difficult.
His thoughts were interrupted by a flying red book entering through the window and collapsing hard with the floor. The stallion got up from the bed and trotted to the book, picking it up with his hoofs. It was a book of advanced magic. Who could throw a book like this here?
The stallion trotted to the window, looking through it. He didn't see anypony down on the street. In that moment, somepony knocked on the door of the room. The stallion trotted to the door with the book still on his hoofs. The stallion opened the door, seeing an exhausted teenager mare recovering her breath. The stallion raised an eyebrow at this.
"Can I help you?" asked the stallion with serenity.
"Yes, please... Huff... My friends are very funny... And threw my book... through your window..." said the mare exhausted.
"Oh, so this book is yours!" said the stallion showing the red book of advanced magic to her.
"Yes, that book is mine... Sorry for the inconvenience..." said the mare nervous.
"No, don't worry. I didn't know that throwing books through windows was a fashion around here," said the stallion with a smile. That made the mare chuckle a bit.
"You're not from here?" asked the mare with curiosity.
"No, I'm from Canterlot. I'm here at Foalmond because I'm getting into the royal army within a few days, and there's a training military base here," explained the stallion.
"Oh, how interesting! Do you want to be a soldier in the future?" asked the mare with more curiosity.
"Well, I would like to be the captain of the royal guard of some empire, but I know that's going to be difficult, so I will be happy being soldier for now," said the stallion with honesty.
"Oh well, welcome to Foalmond then. My name is Mia Amore Cadenza, but my friends call me Cadance," said the mare with a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Cadance! My name is Shining Armor," said the stallion returning the smile.
"Nice to meet you, Shining Armor! Sorry if I can't be here anymore, but I have class in 5 minutes. Hope we meet again sometime," said Cadance with a grin.
"Same here. Good luck with your classes," said Shining Armor, giving finally the book to Cadance.
"Thank you! See you later!" said Cadance, turning back and trotting with hurry through the corridor. Shining Armor closed the door, analyzing what just happened.
Twilight's consciousness started to getting back. She wasn't able to open her eyes yet, but he was slowly starting to hear the world again. She could hear the sound of a lantern and hoofsteps. Was there a pony with her? Twilight tried to open her eyes. It hurted a little bit, but she could open her eyes perfectly with a little groan. She was lying on the floor; a lot of wooden boxes around her. There was a lighted lantern on the ground, illuminating the place. At it's side, a blue pony eating something. Twilight looked at this new pony, with her eyes wide. The pony finished eating and looked at her, realizing that she was awake.
"Oh, you woke at last!" said the pony, trying to smile.
Twilight groaned, trying to stay at a sitting position. She felt a prick at her flank, making her to look at it. Her flank was covered with a bandage. She then remembered what happened before she fainted before... It was real then? Her doppelganger?
"You know you have burned your flank, right? I had to use some bandages to stop the bleeding," said the blue pony.
Twilight looked at the pony. He's coat was dark blue, but his tail and mane were of a lighter blue. His face looked like a mare, but his voice told her that he was a stallion. Why he had the face of a mare? That was weird...
"You're the one who's been helping us?" said Twilight at last.
"Sip." he replied. Twilight didn't understand that way to say 'yes', but she imagined that he was trying to say that. "Sorry for not showing before, but you know... The curse of the town doesn't like meetings."
"Yeah, I can understand." said Twilight, trying to relax at her sitting position. "I'm glad to see that you're a normal pony, and not one of those creatures..."
"Yeah, same here." said the pony with a smile. "What's your name?"
"Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you," said Twilight with her usual manners.
"Salty Sea. Nice to meet you too," said Salty Sea with a grin. "By the way, where's your friend?"
"My... friend?" said Twilight, trying to think about it.
"Yes, that little purple dragon that was on your back always," said Salty Sea with curiosity.
Twilight's eyes wide. She got up alarmed. She couldn't believe that she forgot about Spike.
"Oh my god, where's Spike?!" said Twilight with panic.
"Heyheyhey, calm down! The curse feeds with our panic," said Salty Sea understanding.
"How can I calm down with my number one assistant alone in this cursed town?!" said Twilight with more panic.
"You're number one what?" asked Salty Sea confused.
"SPIKE!!! HE'S JUST A BABY DRAGON!!!" Twilight yelled at Salty Sea with anger, tears welling at her eyes. The blue pony didn't react, like if yelling at him was something normal. Twilight collapsed, tears flowing through her cheeks. Twilight was worried about her dear baby dragon. Twilight started to sob with complete despair. "Spike..."
Salty Sea was quiet, watching the lavender unicorn crying. He didn't know what to say, or how to act. A lot of ideas ran through his mind, but he wasn't feeling sure of say any of them. This was the first time that he was talking to a pony since he got here, and he just made her cry. The blue pony was feeling awful.
"Oh wait! How old is that dragon?" said Salty Sea, realizing about something. Twilight wasn't looking at him, her vision was blurry.
"Ten years..." said Twilight with her voice muffled.
"Hmm... He's still young, I think..." said Salty Sea thoughtful. Twilight rubbed her ears and looked at him, now interested.
"W-what do you mean he's young?" asked Twilight with curiosity.
"Look, the curse of this town knows our most internal dark secrets and fears. The curse use them to make the monsters and scenarios of this town... Is hard to know what is real here or not," said Salty Sea with severity. Twilight got up, looking at the blue pony with amazement.
"How do you know all that?" asked Twilight, still with curiosity.
"I've been trapped in this town for three months. I don't even know why I'm here, or what brought me here but... I learned a lot from the curse in these three months," said Salty Sea frowning. Twilight felt bad for him now.
"Wow... I didn't know that... You aren't scared of this place?" asked Twilight, wanting to know more about his survival days.
"Continuously. I was way more scared the first time I woke in this crazy place, but... I learned to survive here with the time." Salty Sea remembered the first days on this town. He gave a smile of irony. "Ha! It's funny to think that I was a f*cking coward before all of this happened... I was depressed, you know? A lovesick. My head didn't want to move on and be happy again. What a fool of me... But then, one unexpected day, I woke up in this crazy town... I don't know who brought me and why, but I don't care anymore... I'm stronger than ever thanks to this journey for my survival. My lovesick was nothing in comparison with the curse of this town. If I got out of here someday... I will be happy for the first time in three years."
Twilight was fascinated with his story. Three months trapped in this town? That's crazy! She's on her first day, and she can't take it anymore! How this stallion was able to survive here for three months?!
"Wow... It's amazing that you survived here for three months... Wait, did you say something about three years?" said Twilight realizing about it.
"Ah yes, I've been depressed through three years. I know, I'm stupid for wasting my life that way. But well, it doesn't matter anymore... Well, enough talking about me. What about you? Why are you here?" said Salty Sea, eager to know about her life. Twilight hesitated for a moment, thinking about it.
"Well... I'm an ordinary unicorn that have a baby dragon as assistant. I'm a student of Princess Celestia," said Twilight, expecting some astonishment from the blue pony. Nothing at all. That's strange.
"What?" said the blue pony after realizing that Twilight was looking deeply at him.
"Oh, nothing... I was expecting some reaction from you," said Twilight with honesty.
"Some reaction? Why? It's because that's all your story?" said Salty Sea confused.
"No no, don't matter... My brother is the prince of the Crystal Empire, and I received a letter from him one day. He said that Princess Cadance (his wife) had disappeared. After some investigation, we found out that she went here, to this town. I proposed to come here and rescue her alone, but Spike wanted to come with me, so he came with me. And well... You know the rest."
Twilight felt weird telling the events... Was that what really happened? Why had she the feeling of telling something wrong?
"Interesting! So you're here in the mission of rescuing that princess, right?" said Salty Sea thoughtfully.
"Yes, that's it... But I have to find Spike first! I'm not going to abandon him in this crazy town!" said Twilight, getting worried about the baby dragon. Salty Sea frowned.
"Well... He's very young for what you told me, so I can imagine he's still very innocent about life. If this is true, he will not have any problems with monsters... Now, how to find him? We have two options: Trust in our luck and talent for finding things, or getting rid of the curse," said Salty Sea with hooves crossed.
"Wait, we can get rid of the curse?" said Twilight, not expecting this new information.
"I think so... I'm not sure to be honest... But if someone launched a curse to the town, there must be some way to get rid of it... right?" said Salty Sea with some insecurity.
Twilight thought about it. He has a point there. Probably the curse can be removed after all... But how? No, no Twilight, first things first.
"We'll think about that later... I want to find Spike first, then Cadance, and then we will think about how to remove the curse of the town with more calm," said Twilight with her objectives clearer than ever. Salty Sea got up with a smile.
"Alright, count with me then. But remember, the town will not allow more than two ponies in a group. In the moment we find Spike, we'll have separate ways," said Salty Sea with serenity. Twilight frowned at this new information, not liking it very much.
"Alright then... But will you be safe out there when that happens?" said Twilight, worrying about the blue pony for the first time.
"Don't worry about it. I've been surviving here for three months, remember?" said Salty Sea with an optimist smile.
Twilight smiled and nodded. Twilight got up and looked around the room. Boxes everywhere. She must be at some kind of storage. Twilight trotted through the room, avoiding the boxes. She found a door eventually. Twilight opened it, receiving a surprise. She was at the other side of the famous steel bars. Twilight's expression was priceless. How was that possible?
"For your face, I could say that you were at the other side of the bars before, right?" said Salty Sea, guessing her thoughts.
"Yes... But how...?"
"Don't question the logic of this town, Twilight. It will try to drive you crazy by it's own ways," said Salty Sea frowning.
Twilight hadn't need more words to get convinced about it. Twilight turned and trotted through the dark corridor, Salty Sea behind her. They found eventually a stairwell going up and down. Twilight hesitated, thinking of what way was she going to choose. When Twilight realized, Salty Sea was going downstairs.
"Hey, where are you going?" asked Twilight.
"I have a good feeling about going downstairs," said Salty Sea, still going downstairs.
"What? but... hey, wait for me!" said Twilight, hasting her track to follow him.
They were at the ground floor again. Twilight was following Salty Sea through the dark corridor until he stopped. He picked up something from the floor, and gave it to Twilight. It was another of those objects with shape of letters. This one, has the shape of the letter "M". Twilight's eyes widened at the realization of something.
"Oh no! Spike had the other letters!" said Twilight alarmed.
"Do you mean these letters?" said Salty Sea taking two of the letters from his mane. How did he do that?
"Oh, you have them..." said Twilight, twitching her ears.
"I found them at your side when you were faint. I can assure you, this isn't a coincidence," said the blue pony with serenity.
Twilight returned the object to Salty. Salty introduced a hoof in his mane, hiding the letters inside. Twilight didn't know how he could do that, but that wasn't important in that moment. They turned back and went upstairs twice. They were at the second floor now. Twilight found strange the fact that there were more stairs going up. There was a third floor? Salty saw her confused face looking at the stairwell. He guessed her thoughts again.
"There's a roof up there, but I don't think there's going to be anything of interest in there," said Salty Sea smiling.
"I see... You know everything about this town, right?" said Twilight with curiosity.
"Most of it. The town changes if someone new comes to the town," said Salty Sea, still smiling.
Twilight found weird the fact that he says 'someone' instead of 'somepony', but she decided to not give importance to it. Twilight trotted through the dark corridor, inspecting each corner of it. Twilight got surprised by the wooden door of the end of the corridor. It was made of a lighter wood than the other doors, with some green lines around it. Twilight read the number of the door, but there was a name instead of a number: "Emerald Room". Twilight got a bad feeling about that room, but she felt that that room was the room she was looking for. She didn't know how she knew that, but she knew that. Twilight tried to open the door, but it was locked as she expected. Twilight thought about where the key of that door could be... And then, she remembered it; the safe in that room of the ground floor.
Twilight turned back, followed by Salty Sea. They went downstairs, arriving to the first floor again. Twilight went to the steel bars, finding a new problem... Probably they could get at the other side of the steel bars if they crossed the storage room? They had to give it a try, so Twilight turned to the door of her left; the door of the storage room. After crossing the room, they found another door. They crossed it, and how they suspected, now they were at the other side of the steel bars. This was very convenient for once.
"Twilight... We're we going?" said Salty Sea, not daring to ask before.
"To a room at the Ground Floor. There is a safe there that have the key of the Emerald Room," said Twilight with decision.
"How do you know that if you didn't open it?" said Salty Sea, impressed about her deduction.
"You'll see..." said Twilight with a smirk.
Room G-12 again. They were in front of the small metallic safe, with the letters at their hooves: 'N-M-O'. It wasn't difficult to guess the combination for the lock. Twilight introduced with patience 'M-O-O-N', unlocking the safe with a 'click'. Twilight smiled feeling the victory of opening the safe at last.
Twilight crouched, illuminating the inside of the safe. Salty took the items of the safe, closing the safe afterwards. The ponies inspected their new items. One of them was a key with an emerald polishing, the key that Twilight was expecting to be in there. The other item was a plastic translucent bottle with a red label, written with black ink 'HEALER'. Another one of those bottles... An image of Spike crossed her mind. She prayed for his safety, and prayed for the other 'healer' bottle to be with him, in case he need it.
"Welp, time to see what's in that Emerald Room," said Salty smiling. He was happy to be with company after those three months of loneliness.
"Yes, let's go," said Twilight, also smiling.
They were in front of the Emeral Room's door. Twilight gulped. She had the feeling that Cadance was in there... Twilight didn't hesitate anymore, letting Salty to open the door with the emerald-like key. Salty opened the door, letting Twilight to get in first. Twilight crossed the door and looked around the room. It was a disaster. Everything was turned down, like if somepony were inspecting the room before them. And then, she saw that familiar silhouette at her left, looking through a window with sorrow, exhaustion and dark circles under her eyes.
Twilight trotted to her, frowning a little. Salty crossed the door finally, seeing the tall pony with amazement.
"......Princess Cadance?" said Twilight with fear. Cadance didn't react.
"Why did you come here, Twilight? Didn't I say before that this place is dangerous?" said Cadance with anger in her voice. Twilight shrank, twitching her ears. Salty Sea trotted in, gulping before starting to speak.
"Emm... Hello... You're Cadance, right?" said Salty Sea with fear. Cadance looked at him, still with that tired expression.
"Who are you?" said the princess with a bit of curiosity.
"I'm Salty Sea... I've been trapped in this town for three months... And now, I'm helping Twilight to survive through this town... She wants to help you, you know?" said Salty Sea, shaking a little bit. Cadance looked again through the window, staring at the outside fog.
"A lone survivor," said Cadance emotionless.
"Si... Emm... I think that you should accept her help. It can be more easy if we work in team," said Salty Sea with security, but with fear at the same time. Cadance went silent for some seconds. It was awkward.
"Thanks for your generosity, but this is something I need to do myself," said Cadance with harshness. Twilight sighed, ready to talk again.
"P-princess... I know this is not easy... I'm not feeling very good about staying here at these apartments... And let's not talk about the town itself..." Twilight stopped for a moment, a new image of Spike crossing her mind. "But my friend has a point here. If we're here together, everything will be easier. You can trust us."
Cadance closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She knew that Twilight was right. If they work together, it will be easier to find the source of the curse. And who knows? Maybe they will be able to get rid of it! Cadance opened her eyes, looking at the ponies with a warming smile.
"Thank you very much, Twilight and..."
"Salty Sea."
"Yes, Salty Sea... You're really good friends... Alright, you can help me," said Cadance with a better face. That improved the mood of the lavender unicorn.
"Really?! Great!!" said Twilight, feeling happy for once.
"But you're not coming with me for now. Is better if we go separate ways." Twilight was going to complain, but the princess raised a hoof, making Twilight stop. "Let me explain, please. We need to find the source of the curse. Once founded, we'll need to find each other."
"Are you sure about this plan, princess?" asked Twilight with insecurity.
"Please Twilight, don't call me princess. I'm your sister-in-law after all... And yes, I'm sure of it. There is no other option anyway," said Cadance with determination. Salty Sea analyzed her words in his head, finding it a relative good plan after all.
"Ok then... Where do we start to look?" asked Twilight with a new glare in her eyes.
"You have to go to the north of the town. You'll find the 'Grand Shopping Mall' of the town there. You can start looking there," said Cadance with a mental map of the town in her head.
"Alright... What are you going to do now, Cadance?" said Twilight worried.
"I will go to the roof of this building, I didn't inspected there yet. Go now, and good luck out there."
Cadance turned and trotted to the door of the room, crossing it and leaving the two ponies alone. Salty looked at Twilight, this one was looking at the floor with sadness. That worried Salty.
"Twilight... Are you okay?" asked Salty, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight looked at him to this gesture.
"Is this place... It makes me feel... Nostalgic... I never been here, I'm sure of it... But I feel nostalgic anyway... I'm confused," said Twilight with sadness.
"Let's get out of here. It will be worse for you if we stay here any longer," said Salty with serenity.
Twilight nodded, hugging him by surprise. Salty got surprised, but he returned the hug with a smile. He forgot the feeling of hugs... It was so relaxing... Twilight got back from him, looking at him with trusting eyes. The ponies trotted out of the room, with their new objective marking the continuation of their bizarre journey.